Live trapping cottontail rabbits - 09/20/2110:09 PM
Any tips for catching cottonrails in live traps? I got a bunch hanging around where I cant shoot. They have some payback coming for eating up the garden.
Re: Live trapping cottontail rabbits - 09/20/2111:38 PM
When I was young we raised Beagles and my Dad would trap rabbits for training. He built wire cage traps and was very firm on his belief that the flower end of half an apple was the very best bait.
Re: Live trapping cottontail rabbits - 09/21/2112:15 AM
Friend of mine has about 50 wooden traps build three years ago. In the very dead of winter, he set his traps with no bait at all. Rabbits went into the boxes for protection I suppose. He let them go and retired his traps.
As a young teen, I checked my rabbit boxes by bicycle. Sold them alive for $.50 to a man who trained beagles. Carried the rabbits in a burlap sack. Squirrels would chew out and ruin the door. Possums stunk up the boxes and we charred the inside with fire thinking it helped. I think I caught as many squirrels as rabbits. Probably because once I caught a rabbit or two, i set the same trail all winter long rather than moving to new ground.
Re: Live trapping cottontail rabbits - 09/21/2112:41 PM
Originally Posted by mudtracker
Any tips for catching cottonrails in live traps? I got a bunch hanging around where I cant shoot. They have some payback coming for eating up the garden.
I run my own nuisance control business and have trapped hundreds of them.This may sound odd,,but I use apples for bait,,but also a small squirt of red fox urine in my traps.Works great.
Re: Live trapping cottontail rabbits - 09/21/2101:33 PM
Grew up box trapping them to sell to guys with beagles as described above.
Always apple slices for me. The cold nights are best as they are looking to hole up and stay warm.
Never make a box out of new wood. Find an old barn that is being torn down or use a hollow log. The more natural the better. The ones made out of a hollow log were the best, but it was hard for a 10 year old to cut a round door
Re: Live trapping cottontail rabbits - 09/21/2107:50 PM
Originally Posted by Gary Benson
I'd like to trap some black squirrels and start a new population where I live. I know of them in Marysville KS, Council Bluffs IA and Lincoln NE.
I saw a pie ball red on my farm a few years ago. Have not seen it since. I saw a black down the road a mile or two and my friend has shot a few lacks on his place over the years. They are around here but few and far between. Adding a few more would be cool.